Conventionally, the accelerator pedal is fixed by bolts, etc. on a floor carpet that is laid entirely over the floor of the driver's seat. In the case where the floor carpet is washed, repaired or replaced with another one, it is necessary to disassemble a pad member, an arm and a bracket of the accelerator pedal, and then detach the stopper member fixed on the floor of the driver's seat.
After the floor carpet is removed and washed, repaired or replaced with another one, the stopper member is fixed on the floor by bolts, and then the pad member is fitted into the stopper member. And the arm and the bracket are engaged with the pad member, and thereafter the throttle for controlling the engine speed is readjusted.
In other words, if the accelerator pedal is once detached, the mounting position of the bracket, which supports the arm, cannot be restored, so that an adjustment of the throttle, etc. is required to control the engine speed to the original engine speed.
Further, in order to hook resinous nails provided at the pad member of the accelerator pedal through nail-catch sections of the stopper member, a fastening method, for example, employing a snap-fit structure, in which fastening is made use of the flexibility of the resin, is conventionally known. However, to perform a firm and reliable fastening made by the deflection of the resinous nails, it is necessary to further employ bolts, nuts or tapping screws.
For this reason, in such a fastening structure of resinous parts wherein the resinous nails are deflected and prevented from being pulled out, the resinous nails are made of a resin having a higher hardness instead of a soft resin ranging from resin to rubber.
For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2001-270343 (Pages 3-4, and FIG. 2) discloses such an accelerator pedal structure for vehicles, which includes a restricting member for restricting a relative movement between the accelerator pedal pad and the retainer in the rotation shaft direction, so as to minimize the backlash amount in the rotation shaft direction.
However, according to this conventional method, the fit-in structure where the fastening member is deflected and fitted into the corresponding fastened member upon engagement thereof prevents removal and backlash of the fastening member. The resinous nails of the fastening member are not of a deformation proof structure, for example, with respect to the deformation of the resin, therefore, it may cause a deformation and thereby causing removal of the nails regardless of whether or not the fastened member deforms.
In the case where a soft material is used for the fastening member, it may cause removal or backlash of the fastening member. To this end, a firm fastening structure for preventing the removal and backlash has been desired.
The accelerator pedal is fixed by bolts on the floor carpet that is laid entirely over the floor of the driver's seat. When the floor carpet is washed, repaired or replaced with another one, it is necessary to detach the stopper member that is fixed on the floor of the driver's seat. For this reason, in the conventional accelerator pedal, the pad member, the arm, and the bracket have to be disassembled. However, there is a drawback such that the pad member is difficult to be detached from the stopper member.
Once the arm and the bracket are disassembled, readjustment of these parts is required in order to control the engine speed to the original conditions.
The present invention is proposed to solve the above drawbacks, and the purpose of the present invention is to readily detach the pad member from the stopper member without causing removal and backlash of the pad member relative to the stopper member.